BSP terminates contract with national ID cards supplier ACI

National ID (FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — The Monetary Board (MB) of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has terminated the contract between BSP and All Card Inc. (ACI), the supplier of Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) ID cards.

MB Resolution No. 962 obtained by INQUIRER.net on Thursday states that the terminated contract covers the following:

• Provision of technical and maintenance support personnel
• Training of BSP and Philippine Statistics Authority personnel
• Supply and delivery of raw materials, consumables, and wear-and-tear spare parts for 116 million pieces of PhilID cards

READ: BSP tells banks to accept all nat’l ID formats

Included in the resolution is a notice of decision which detailed the grounds for termination of the contract as follows:

• ACI failed to deliver enough raw materials within the specific period, even within the extension granted
• ACI failed to maintain the production machinery due to unavailable machine spare parts causing prolonged machine downtime

The document likewise indicated that ACI failed to perform the following obligations under the contract:

• ACI failed [or] refused to comply with valid instructions
• ACI failed to timely provide a comprehensive and realistic catch-up plan
• ACI effectively abandoned the contract
• ACI incurred almost 7 percent wastage, which grossly exceeded the 1 [percent] maximum allowable maximum wastage

“As of June 30, the cumulative liquidated damages due from ACI have reached more than ten percent of the contract price. The contract is hereby deemed terminated from receipt by ACI of the notice decision. No other paper or document shall be entertained by the Monetary Board,” the document signed by BSP Monetary Board Secretary Clifton Abot states.

READ: PSA to establishments: Recognize PhilID or face up to P500,000 fine

Earlier, BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. confirmed the contract termination due to the delay in deliverables.

“This is a real problem. We have decided to terminate actually the old contracts because the contractor for these IDs has not been able to deliver, so we have terminated the contracts,” the BSP chief explained.

Remolona added that they are now looking for a new vendor for the contract. “We are negotiating for damages and at the same time, we’re looking for a new vendor for this contract. But this is an issue and we’re working on that issue,” he said.

In a separate phone call with INQUIRER.net, ACI President Roy Ebora confirmed the termination of the said contract. He said ACI likewise filed for a motion of consideration with BSP’s monetary board.

“Everything is now with the arbitration court. We filed a motion for interim protection. I think the full title of what we filed is Interim Measures of Protection with [the] Arbitration Tribunal. So all these [are] under arbitration, we also filed a motion for consideration with the monetary board,” said Ebora.

— WITH A REPORT FROM IAN NICOLAS P. CIGARAL